#AppreciationMonday: When COVID-19 puts a hold on sharing your big day with family, what do you do?
The pandemic has forced many people to become resourceful, especially this bride...
We have spoken endlessly about the effects the pandemic has had on so many people's lives. But rather than focus on the negative, we would rather spend time focusing on the positive stories that leave us all feeling hopeful.
It is tough for all of us, especially with the morbid nature of things, but more than anything, we cannot imagine what it must be like for those who are starting families and those that want to get married.
It cannot be easy planning a wedding with the up and down nature of the lockdown restrictions, let alone the travel restrictions. Feeling as if you don't have any control over your plans and what it is you want and don't want.
One thing is for sure, it gives people a renewed sense of appreciation for all that we do have. Who would've thought that having the freedom to invite as many people as you like, serving food without constantly being concerned about masked servers, and sanitiser stations, would be the new normal.
Read more: WATCH: "That's all the dead skin, everything out" - husband giving his wife a pedicure...
Karen Mahoney and her new husband, Brian Ray, met 35 years ago over their love for skiing and after getting engaged in March this year, they couldn't wait to be married.
But alas, the pandemic put a spanner in their plans because of the travel restrictions and the risk that the virus presented when it came to Karen's elderly grandmother. The most important thing for Karen was to have her only grandmother attend her wedding.
She's my only living grandparent, the only grandparent I've ever known, so it was very important for me for her to be there to watch the happiest day of my life. The most important part of the day for us was the promises we told to each other, and we wanted my parents and grandmother to witness that.
The couple has a friend who is part of the border patrol team and had previously arranged a meeting for Karen and her family, as well as when Ray asked Karen's father for her hand in marriage.
"He explained all the rules, including making sure they stayed on their given sides and did not exchange anything, and informed the patrol on duty as to what was going on if they saw the ceremony on the cameras in the area. They met up at the border outside Burke, New York, the day before their planned wedding on September 25. The border crossing more resembles a meadow with a marker showing the country names. There were no gates or fences in the way. Mahoney's parents stood on their Canadian side and the couple, their wedding party and their officiant stood on the other," CNN reports.
The couple held another ceremony the day after at their home in New York, but the emotion and the sentimentality of the border wedding meant so much to the two of them.
A beautiful ending to a beautiful love story. Not all love stories have to be ruled by the pandemic and the Mahoneys proved that.
Image Courtesy of Instagram